March 17, 2015
LOS ANGELES - In a game that turned into a pitchers' duel between a pair of sophomore left-handers wearing the same number, San Diego State emerged with a 2-1 victory at Loyola Marymount Tuesday evening. The win ended a short two-game skid for the Aztecs, who improved to 16-5 while the Lions fell to 11-9.
The battle between hurlers featured SDSU's Marcus Reyes and LMU's Brenton Arriaga, both of whom wore number 29 on their back. Although Arriaga would pitch deeper into the contest, it was the SDSU southpaw who would claim the win at the end of the night.
SDSU opened the scoring with a run in its first at bat. Steven Pallares led off the game by being hit by pitch and advanced to second on Danny Sheehan's sacrifice bunt. Ty France's fly to deep center moved him to third before Seby Zavala's single down the left field line brought him home.
The Aztecs doubled their lead in the top of fourth when Andrew Brown led off with a single and promptly stole second base. After a pair of fly outs, freshman left fielder David Hensley laced a single to center field to drive home Brown with SDSU's second run.
Loyola Marymount got on the board with a run in the bottom of the sixth that was recorded with the help of a pair of SDSU errors. That unearned run signaled the end of the evening for the Aztecs' Reyes, but the sophomore lefty would eventually be credited with the victory to up his record to 2-0 on the year.
When the Lions put their leadoff batter on base in the bottom of the ninth, closer CJ Saylor was summoned from the bullpen. The junior retired the ensuing three hitters to nail down the win and notch his eighth save of the season.
Pallares was the lone Aztec to collect more than one hit in the contest as he finished with a single and double. He also reached on a hit by pitch and he, along with Brown, scored one of SDSU's two runs on the night,
San Diego State will resume Mountain West play this weekend when it hosts Air Force for a three-game series that gets underway on Friday, March 20, with a game set to start at 6:00 p.m. at Tony Gwynn Stadium.